Laser processing stations are being adopted in manufacturing for material processing at an ever increasing rate. Laser processing stations offer many advantages over more conventional processing applications. For example, laser processing stations are particularly suited for cutting shapes or profiles out of materials, marking or preparing materials by removing or modifying surface layers of materials, and welding or sintering materials, because they offer the advantage of providing non-contact, tool-less, and fixture-less methods of processing materials. In many cases, laser processing stations are replacing processes that require investments in tooling such as dies for die cutting, masks for silk screening, or templates and fixtures for hard tooling.